Vulgar billboard removed in Chicago

CHICAGO, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A Chicago alderman said an outdoor advertising company voluntarily removed a billboard featuring a former porn star and a racy slogan.

Alderman Brendan Reilly said Wednesday the Urban Core advertising company voluntarily removed the ArrangementFinders.com billboard, which bore the image of retired porn star Bree Olson and the slogan, "Because the best job is a b--w job," the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

"I appealed to him as a downtown stakeholder, acknowledging I have no way to compel him to remove the sign," Reilly said of his meeting with an Urban Core official. "And he agreed to do the right thing.

"The First Amendment had been protected and we've all gotten the end result we desired, which was the removal of a racy billboard," he said.

The alderman said he received dozens of complaints about the advertisement.

A.J. Perkins, head of marketing for ArrangementFinders.com, based in Toronto, said the company is unhappy with the move.

"We are disturbed by the removal of our billboard," he said. "Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel knows more than anyone that based on the First Amendment this is an unfair act. We paid for the billboard to be up for one month and we are trying to get to the bottom of it being taken down. We are not surprised that some people don't agree with the billboard but as they have a right to complain, the First Amendment gives us the right to keep it up."

"The mayor and the city had nothing to do with the sign coming down," Emanuel's office said in a statement. "This is the decision of a private property owner and it is within the owner's rights to decide."

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